ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHATSAPP BUSINESS POLICY CHANGE
Founded by Brian Acton and Jan Koum in February 2009, WhatsApp emerged as one of the most successful communication applications worldwide. Having a user base of about 2.5 billion active users, the messaging service has been continuously making rounds due to its many controversies. But recently the discussion about the revised business policy has sparked conversation among different sections of the society.
The concept of WhatsApp sharing data with Facebook was misinterpreted by the common public. It aroused a sense of bewilderment within the users but the confusion was shortly clarified by WhatsApp itself. It transparently explained its stance by issuing a statement that the updated terms and conditions are to be strictly adhered by the business accounts only. No private data shared with family, friends or closed ones is going to be read or used by the service itself as it is end-to-end encrypted.
So, if you are also an active user of this instant messaging application, here is what you need to know about the recent policy change.
WhatsApp for Commerce
WhatsApp is fast transforming into much more than being just a messaging application. While engaging with a business account, the app will get access to a customer’s purchase related data in order to provide them with better personalized options to suit their needs and preferences. This will be a positive approach to accelerate the marketing strategy of the business itself. The users will also be provided with Shop & Cart options for digital shopping and brand exploration.
Hosting services for business
WhatsApp has now opened doors for business-consumer communication. It has allowed business owners to host services via their number rather than contacting a third party in order to ensure faster onboarding. Moreover, they will have access to the data of consumers engaged with their brands for customizations. This will help them to provide the customers with personalized ads which will help boost the idea of conversational commerce with the help of richer content. The user will be notified if a business number is hosted on Facebook’s server.
Privacy policy undisturbed
The messenger app has cleared that peer-to-peer communication will remain uninfluenced. Current flow of personal communication is as follows which will remain unchanged:
The infographic shared above by WhatsApp demonstrates the flow of data and the restrictions on the company with regard to private chats. Once a user himself agrees to converse with a company’s business account, there is a change in that circumstance specifically.
The data from the conversation will be accessed by WhatsApp in order to provide better and well-suited advertisements on Facebook & Instagram that are relevant to the user’s preferences. This will boost small-scale and medium-scale businesses too.
Allowed & Prohibited messages
The customer support messages and customer notification messages are allowed according to the business policy in order to have a security check on every action of business-consumer interaction. But any kind of marketing, promotional or subscription related messages including content subscription are not allowed to be shared.
WhatsApp Business accounts open up a host of different possibilities to enhance the dynamics of a business-customer relationship. With its news business policy in place, businesses can effectively provide quality content to their customers and improve their overall experience with the brand. Conclusively, the private conversations of users are not being compromised at all this time. The changes are keeping in mind the ‘Right to Privacy’ of users. The idea is accepted for the better progress of businessmen and having a good marketing approach. The private conversations are still end-to-end encrypted and the concept is not to be misled now.
Learn more about WhatsApp statistics in 2021 to know how WhatsApp is emerging as the go to app for businesses.